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27 Jun 2015

"Don’t crucify Vincent Enyeama; ...he is a professional football player" - Oliseh

Former Nigeria captain, Sunday Oliseh has frowned on the manner in which the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is handling the issue involving goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama.

The nation’s soccer governing body had summoned the Super Eagles captain before its disciplinary committee for what it described as “unguarded comments” to the media over its choice of the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna for their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Les Sao of Chad earlier this month.

Enyeama did not turn up before the committee on the claims that he did not receive any official notification of such and did not respond to an earlier query given by the NFF. Reports in Nigeria now suggest that the LOSC Lille Metropole goalkeeper could be sanctioned.

But Oliseh is of the view that Enyeama should be treated as a professional footballer and not a civil servant under the full employ of the football federation.

The former Juventus and Borussia Dortmund midfielder believes that Enyeama’s view as captain of the Nigerian men’s national team “should be respected.”

“He is not a civil servant. Why are you querying him?” Oliseh asked in an interview with Brila FM on Friday. “He is a professional football player, the captain of the team and simply aired his opinion and I think that should be respected.